The days after Thanksgiving are always weird days for a fridge. If you’re anything like me you still have remnants of your holiday feast, plus vestiges of groceries from the previous week, and grocery shopping is a no-go because you are be licking your psychological scars from pre-holiday shopping (I know I am). So what are you to do with this hodgepodge of foodstuffs? Certainly you can’t throw them out (a waste of food and money!) Here’s an idea: You should make a Gateau di Patate!

This recipe (and its name) is by my Roman friend, Nanni. The idea behind this dish is simple and genius: Chop up your leftovers, make mashed potatoes, mix them together, and then bake everything with cheese and some breadcrumbs. I’ve made this dish twice since Nanni shared it with me, and I LOVE IT. Now granted, I’ve never done it with Thanksgiving leftovers, but you can be damn sure that I’ll be making a Thanksgiving version of Gateau di Patate! You could include anything like shredded turkey, brussel sprouts, stuffing, green beans from the casserole, maybe even some tomatoes from the salad! Look, almost anything baked in cheese and breadcrumbs will be DELICIOUS, so get creative and enjoy it with a nice bowl of soup!

GATEAU DI PATATE

Ingredients

Instructions

Heat your oven to 375F

This recipe makes use of all the leftovers you have in the fridge, plus mashed potatoes. So take all the little pieces of cheese, vegetables, solitary slices of ham, salami, and chop them up very small…

As far as herbs: basil, oregano, and parsley work well, but NO rosemary!

Peel and boil 1 kg of white potatoes until you can easily stick a fork in them.

Once they are boiled, drain the water, cut the potatoes up into smaller pieces, and quickly sauté with a little bit of olive oil to evaporate excess water.

Transfer to a bowl, mash the potatoes well, and add one spoonful of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

And the chopped leftovers to the mashed potatoes and mix well.

Now grease or butter an oven pan and cover the bottom with a thin layer of bread crumbs. Add the potato mix and top with bread crumbs.

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About Elettra

Elettra Wiedemann is the founder of Impatient Foodie, a food site that navigates her desire to marry Slow Food ideals with the realities of fast paced, urban life. Within just a few months of launch in summer of 2014, Impatient Foodie was featured in numerous publications including Vogue, The New York Post, The Daily Mail (UK) Elle US, Elle China, Yahoo Food, Yahoo News, Madame Figaro, and Racked, ManRepeller, and Food & Wine Magazine.